Fevered Dream
by Toshirokun13
Summary: While playing hooky from his duties at the hospital, Ichigo finds a strange boy passed out in the park. Is it a simple case of heatstroke or something more? IchiHitsu
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I know I should totally be working on my other story Hidden Truths, but I kinda needed a little break and then just randomly started writing this. It was originally going to be a one-shot, but I started having a lot of fun with it and now I really have no idea how long I'm going to make it.  
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Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.**  
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><p>If there was one thing that Toshiro Hitsugaya couldn't stand, it was being hot and being in the midst of an unusually prolonged summer hot flash that was to the young Hitsugaya's complete disdain exactly what he was facing. For about the past week, temperatures had skyrocketed and had yet to drop below the 100° mark. Toshiro had tried everything he could think of to stay cool, but nothing seemed to work and even if they gave him temporary relief and shelter from the heat, it always came back to bite him in the end.<p>

"Guess I have no choice…" The boy muttered to himself, before walking out of the shade of a particularly large tree that he had been sheltering under for the past few hours. As he continued walking along the busy streets he could feel his body getting more and more sluggish. Heat was really not his forte… not at all. The young white-haired boy slowly but surely made his way to the one place where he knew he would be able to get salvation at last.

Street after street passed by and Toshiro was counting down and almost dragging himself along hoping against hope he would be able to escape the day that had seemed to want to do nothing more than to drive him to his utmost limits. He seemed to have just today sweat out his entire body weight and he knew that he should be replenishing the fluids in his body with copious amounts of water, but just being as lucky as he was, all the money that he currently had was being spent on paying his rent on a little run-down apartment right smack in the middle of the city. Toshiro was living on two paychecks that he received every month from the two jobs that he was currently working just so that he could keep his apartment. Today was one of the young boy's very unusual days where he wasn't expected to be at either of his jobs, so he had the entire day to himself.

Toshiro was sporting a simple t-shirt and a pair of very worn shorts that happened to be just a little bit too large in the waist, so they tended to rest precariously on his small hips. He turned the corner and let a huge sigh of relief when he spotted the very building he had been looking for. There was nothing particular that stood out for the young boy, or really anyone else for a matter of fact. The small building was squashed in between two larger stone buildings composed of nothing but corporate offices for one of the largest law firms in the city. Toshiro approached the building and knocked as hard as he could on the door, which due to the fatigue of being out in the blazing sun all day wasn't nearly as hard as he would've wished.

"Toshiro!" A woman exclaimed as she burst through the door, quickly enveloping the boy in a large hug. A muffled cry could be heard as the white-haired boy tried to yell at said woman hugging him to let go.

"Get off…!" Toshiro finally managed to grunt as he was able to free his head that had been unfortunately sandwiched between the older woman's large breasts. Finally, the boy was released and even when he continued to glare up at the woman her smile refused to falter as she pulled her unexpected guest inside.

"What brings you to my neck of the woods, Toshiro?" the woman asked curiously as she made her way into the kitchen.

"I needed to escape the heat for a little while… you know my rocky relationship with being hot and humid." The male responded in a bored tone while staring hungrily or in this case thirstily at the fridge that his host was currently standing next to.

The woman merely smiled as she opened the fridge, knowing exactly what her small friend was looking for. "Sorry to say though, my air conditioner broke yesterday and when I called my usual repair guy, he said they weren't going to be able to make it out here until sometime at the end of the week…" She frowned when she noticed the disappointed look in her younger companion's eyes, yet she couldn't help but giggle when she pulled out a cold bottle of water from her fridge and Toshiro's face instantly lit up. Toshirou practically inhaled the water, chugging the entire bottle in a matter of seconds.

The woman was sure to grab another two water bottles from her fridge before ushering her guest into the small living room in her house. "Here ya go Toshiro, drink up!"

"Thanks, Rangiku…" The boy muttered quietly as he gratefully accepted the bottle offered to him.

"No problem!" Rangiku squealed happily as she opened the second bottle that she had brought into the living room and took a rather large gulp of it herself before breaking the tender silence that had descended between the two friends. "So seriously… not that I don't appreciate your company, but what are you doing in this part of town? You've been so busy with that second job you started that I never see you anymore." The strawberry blonde woman giggled again after scratching her head before finishing, "Why, I don't think I've seen you in… in probably three weeks!"

"Yea, well… neither of my jobs happened to schedule me for today, so I got the day off. Though I'm not really sure I'm all that thrilled about it… at least when I go to my one job it has some air conditioning… allows me to escape this damn heat…" Toshiro muttered, clearly annoyed and frustrated at the same time.

"Don't worry, things will start to look up soon… promise." Rangiku said firmly, trying to cheer up her young friend. She wished that she could do more to help out Toshiro, but the truth was that she wasn't all that better off than him. The only reason that Rangiku was able to support herself was from the help of her parent's that had set up a fund for her before they decided to go off exploring the world for who knew how many years. She heard from them every once in awhile when they managed to send out a letter or happened to be somewhere that they could find a phone.

"Mhmm… It would be nice if things just worked out for me for once; hopefully, this new job is able to get me enough money so that I don't have to spend one-hundred percent of my earnings on that piece of crap I'm in right now…"

Rangiku sighed. "You know I'm always willing to spilt the rent here with you so that you can get out of that place already… your landlady is such bitch and you know she just takes advantage of you any way she can." Rangiku had hated Toshiro's landlady ever since the first day she had met her. She had a habit of charging Toshiro way more than what he should be paying and would spend all the money she did manage to make in those transactions to buy any and all alcohol that she could get her grubby little hands on.

"We've discussed this Rangiku… my answer is the same as ever. I don't like having to depend on people and I need to learn how to make it for myself in this world if I ever want to become successful." Toshiro sighed. This was one of the reasons that he didn't like visiting with the strawberry blonde too often… she was always trying to pressure him to move in with her and frankly, he was getting tired of constantly having to refuse her every time he saw her.

"Oh my god!" Rangiku yelled suddenly, before jumping up and rushing out of the room, going who knows where, leaving a very confused Toshiro still sitting in the living room periodically drinking from his water bottle.

It was less than ten minutes later before Rangiku made her return to her living room. She had changed her clothes and was searching through the purse currently hanging from her arm before turning to the boy still sitting in the same spot he had been since they had first left the kitchen. The moment Rangiku reentered the room, Toshiro quickly lifted his head hoping the strawberry blonde would enlighten him as to why she rushed out of the room so suddenly before.

"I'm so sorry, Toshiro!" Rangiku squealed, "I totally forgot that I have to go into work today…. I actually have to be there in uh- about a half an hour." The strawberry blonde quickly apologized as she slipped her feet into some sandals she managed to fish out of a large pile of shoes near the hall. "You can stay here if you want; I'm only going to be gone a few hours." Rangiku finished rather awkwardly. Toshiro stood up and shook his head while accompanying the older woman to the front door.

"No, it's fine, Rangiku. I don't want to impose on you any more than I already have. I'll be okay, don't worry." The boy shrugged as the pair walked out into the blinding sunlight.

"I can't help but worry, Toshiro! You've been my friend for longer than anyone I know and I just want what's best for you..." Rangiku sighed as she flagged down a taxi cab that had been passing by the pair.

"Just go, you're going to be late and I'll manage." Toshiro replied as he practically pushed the strawberry blonde into the back seat of the taxi before closing the door and waving as the taxi pulled away. If he didn't do it, she never would of left and Toshiro knew that for a fact. Ever-since his parent's had been killed in a car accident a few years ago Rangiku had been trying to act as his replacement mother to some extent. On one hand, Toshiro thought it was nice she cared so much for him, but then again he also noticed that she had become overly protective lately and it could get really annoying really fast.

If it was possible, it seemed like it had gotten even hotter out than before he had taken refuge in Rangiku's small townhome. Toshiro wasn't exactly sure what he had done to deserve this, but in any case, there wasn't much he could do to change the weather and he would just have to learn to deal.

After standing in the broad daylight for about ten minutes trying to figure out exactly what he was wanted to do now, Toshiro ended up deciding to just let his feet take him wherever they wanted to go and to see where he would end up. So that's exactly what he did, hoping that somewhere along the way he would be able to find somewhere that would prevent him from just melting on the spot.

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><p><em>Apparently, I'm the only person in this whole damn city that hates this hot weather...<em> Toshiro thought to himself as he scanned the city park, where he usually spent most of his free time; but right at that particular moment said part was more crowded than the white-haired boy had ever seen it in his life. Every little bit of shade was either occupied by a person, animal or anything otherwise that was trying to escape the heat. The young boy just kept wandering through the park, hoping to find a spot, but having no luck as the feelings of sweating out all the fluids in his body started to return. _I really need to find somewhere, anywhere that I can go to try and cool down._ He thought as he looked down sadly at the empty water bottle still firmly in his grasp.

As he approached the lake, Toshiro was so thirsty that he was seriously debating either just jumping into the lake, clothes and all, or even filling up the empty bottle still firmly in his grasp with lake water so he would have _something_ to drink. However, the second option he regretfully threw out because he knew that the water was far from clean and wasn't at all fit for human consumption. As for the first option, he wasn't exactly sure what was living in the depths of the lake and wasn't really sure he wanted to find out.

Toshiro didn't think it was possible for one person to be so hot… it baffled his mind. He had been walking around the park now for so long that he was starting to feel dizzy and his legs were starting to feel more like jelly than ever and to top it all off he was starting to feel nauseous the longer he stayed on his feet. Shade or no shade, he had to find somewhere to sit down so that he could collect himself before possibly trying to move on to find shelter elsewhere because the park obviously wasn't an option right now. There was a small street of shops only a few streets down, but the young genius wasn't too sure that he would be able to make it quite that far.

It was then that Toshiro spotted a fairly deserted pedestrian tunnel on the other side of the lake and in his haste to get out of the unforgiving sun; he attempted to run to his much desired destination and after only a few seconds of running he could feel the toll that it took on his body. He stopped running suddenly when he felt himself getting extremely light headed and dizzy. The world started spinning before his very eyes and then after a few seconds it started to tilt at dangerous angles and unable to do anything but mutter, "Shit…" due to the fact that his body had suddenly decided to completely shut down on him and Toshiro was unconscious before his body even had a chance to hit the ground.

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><p>Ichigo Kurosaki couldn't believe that his dad had managed to convince him to come to the hospital with him for what seemed like the fifth day this week. Although, 'convince' probably wasn't the best word to use in this situation… a more fitting word for this situation would probably be more like 'guilt' or 'bribe,' yea that sounded better. Ichigo's dad was fully intent on having his son carry on the family business when he was no longer be able to perform his duties or if something suddenly happened to him. Ichigo wasn't all too thrilled about this idea, but being the eldest Kurosaki in the family he didn't really have any choice in the matter.<p>

Ichigo's father was the most respected and well-known doctor in town; in-fact he had become somewhat of a celebrity and Ichigo, to his dismay, was held up to certain expectations and one said expectation was to follow in his father's footsteps as owner of the hospital. Isshin had moved into the city when he was just a young doctor fresh out of medical school and soon after he came to town, Isshin Kurosaki quickly rose through the ranks of the local hospital. After working for years with some of the city's finest doctors, he decided to leave the hospital to open his own clinic on the other side of town. It started out small, but when he became more well-known and had cracked a few particularly large cases he started to expand his hospital and soon it was even larger than the previous hospital that he had been employed at.

So basically, Ichigo was stuck inside all day, everyday shadowing his father and learning about what it took to run what was now the family company. Today seemed worse than most days to the strawberry and he was pretty sure that he was going to lose it if he had to look at another report, talk to another secretary about what his dad had planned for him, or even just continuing to follow him around saying nothing and doing nothing the entire day.

"Dad?" Ichigo asked as he entered into a patient's room where his father was giving the patient a check-up.

"Okay. Everything looks good and you should be able to leave tomorrow." He said cheerfully before turning around to face his teenage son. "What's up, Ichigo?"

"I uh- need to go… to the…bathroom." He finished lamely. The orange-haired teenager silently kicked himself for using what had to be about the most cliché escape attempt in the entire world, but he hadn't really been able to put much thought into how he was going to get out of the suffocating white walls of his father's hospital and had panicked.

"Mkay… don't take too long though, I need you to drop this progress report off at the nurse's station when you get back." His father replied obviously too distracted with the patient to notice Ichigo's mistake.

The strawberry shook his head before reaching out to take the clipboard in his father's hands. "Why don't I just drop that off on my way?"

Isshin brought his hand up to massage his small goatee before muttering, "Good thinking son. I have a meeting up on the top floor to talk about the new interns we are going to be hiring next month. I don't expect you to come up for the preliminary selection process, but I do want you to come up when we start calling the chosen candidates."

"Yea, okay." Ichigo muttered before flying out of the small hospital room and walking as fast as he could without actually running down the hall in the direction of the nurse's station. The faster he got there, the more time he would have before his dad had to track him down and drag him back to the hospital.

"Oh! G-Good Afternoon, Mr. Kurosaki." One of the younger nurses stuttered when she noticed Ichigo standing in front of the desk. She was new at the hospital and it was clear to everyone other than Ichigo that she had a huge crush on the orange-haired teenager. Well actually, most of the nurses at the hospital had a crush on Ichigo… after all he was pretty built, had a breathtaking smile and not to mention he was the owner's son.

"Hey ladies." Ichigo said as he greeted everyone casually, while pulling the clipboard out of one of the larger pockets in his doctor's coat. "My dad wanted me to drop this off." He finished as he handed the documents to one of the blushing nurses. "Catch ya girls later." He called as he walked off down the hall.

As soon as he was out of the nurse's eyesight he flew down the next few hallways before walking through a large set of doors that led to a rarely used stairwell. Ichigo proceeded to hide his doctor's coat by hastily stuffing it in into his usual hiding spot before pulling out a worn baseball cap that he usually used to hide his flamboyant orange hair and proceeding to run down the remaining flights of stairs. As Ichigo approached the first floor he inched the door open cautiously being extremely careful to make sure that no-one was around before silently slipping out the doors and just as silently pushing the large hospital doors that led outside open and fled into the welcoming sunlight.

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><p>Ichigo had been craving to escape his stuffy prison all day, but now that he was actually outside he wasn't so sure that playing hooky on a day that had to be well over one-hundred degrees was all that of a great idea.<p>

"Well, I already put forth the effort to get out here, so I might as well just enjoy myself before the old man finds out I ditched…" Ichigo muttered to himself as he continued walking down a rather crowded street leading away from the hospital. _What to do, what to do… _The strawberry thought to himself as he approached a busy street, waiting for the light of little white person saying that he was able to cross the street. _Should I go see a movie…? Nah, I'll be lucky if I can stay out here for even a half an hour._ Ichigo stopped suddenly in the middle of the sidewalk causing a few absent minded people to bump into him and send numerous glares in his directions as they passed. After a few moments, Ichigo's head snapped up suddenly, _I haven't been able to go to the city park in forever!_ The strawberry grinned as he started to reminisce about all the times his mother would take him and his sisters to the park whenever it was a nice day. They would do some many things together like go fishing, play tag, have picnics and so many other things. Unfortunately, a few years ago his beloved mother passed away in a building fire.

Ichigo couldn't help but grin from ear to ear when he finally arrived at the park that had held such joy and cherished memories for him as a child. It was only when he saw a vendor selling ice-cold water that he realized how thirsty he had been and started running so fast towards the cart that he almost ran over the darn thing.

"Woah there Sonny, what's the rush?" The elderly lady chuckled as she reached inside her cart to pull out a cold bottle of water before exchanging said bottle for the money currently in Ichigo's outstretched hand.

"Thanks." Ichigo smiled as he started to chug the bottle greedily without even bothering to move from in front of the cart before plunging his hand back into his pants pocket attempting to dig out more money so that he could buy another drink.

"Try to leave some for the fish next time." The lady chuckled as she handed her newest customer his second bottle of water.

"Eh, they can share." The teenager shrugged as he poured some of refreshingly cold water into his free hand before quickly splashing it in his face.

"Feeling refreshed?" The lady giggled again before freezing for a second as she continued staring as the teenager in-front of her.

_Shit…_ Ichigo knew that look… that look could only mean one thing…

"You're the Kurosaki boy… Ichigo isn't it?"

The strawberry couldn't help but let out a heavy sigh. "How'd you know?" he muttered dismissively.

"I can see your hair sticking out through your hat, darling." The lady replied as she pointed to a few stray orange hairs sticking out of his hat. "Don't worry, I won't tell." She smiled.

"Thanks… for everything." Ichigo replied as he lifted the still half full water bottle in his hand to his mouth before starting to walk off hoping to see what else was going on in the park today.

"Mhmm… that's definitely the Kurosaki boy." The lady smiled softly to herself as she watched the teenager's slowly retreating figure.

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><p>For the first time in a long time, the strawberry was actually able to relax. Despite the heat and humidity, just walking along the pathway watching all the other people using the day to enjoy themselves was enjoyable for the usually busy teenager. Some people were playing games, others were having picnics and then there the number of people that had decided to sleep away the remainder of the day in the shade and safety of the various trees and shrubberies found throughout the park.<p>

"Wow. I can't believe how crowded the park is today. It's usually deserted, but on a day like today, I guess it's to be expected." Ichigo muttered to himself as he continued on his leisurely stroll throughout the park. It was such a relief for the younger Kurosaki male not having to worry about every little thing going on in the hospital even if it was for such a short time. _Breaks are healthy for everyone right?_ He thought to himself as he started to approach a small tunnel that led under a large bridge.

The difference in temperatures between the direct sun and the cool relief of the tunnel had to be at least five to ten degrees and Ichigo decided to stay in the forgiving coolness for a few moments before deciding to venture out back into the hot and humid afternoon. _It's weird that dad hasn't tried to call me or that I haven't seen any of his associates coming to try and find me… I've been gone almost an hour._ The strawberry wasn't sure whether to be thankful or worried about why he hadn't been called back to the hospital like he usually was within the first twenty to thirty minutes after he would 'mysteriously' disappear. Soon however, he decided not to let it bother him as he took a particularly large gulp of water and ventured back out into the blazing sunlight.

As he emerged from the tunnel, a huge smile grew on the strawberry's face as he saw that he had ended up right next the lake that his mother and sisters would visit all the time before her unfortunate passing. He decided to walk up to the bank for old time's sake and he was already here so, why not? As he sat on the edge of the lake Ichigo looked around the part of the park he had ventured to and realized that it was a lot less crowded than from where he had first entered. There seemed to be a rather large gathering of people near him that seemed to be having some sort of party with games and food and drinks and they had even rented out the small pavilion for all the people who wanted some place to sit down during all the festivities.

Out of everything going on there was one thing, er- one person in particular that happened to catch the strawberry's attention. A young boy from what Ichigo could see, but there was just something that seemed off about the kid… At first glance it seemed as though he was simply taking a nap like so many other people had chosen to do with the day; but the longer he stared at the boy across the lake the more things felt off kilter. Ichigo didn't want to make a big deal about it if he was just overreacting to nothing, but there was just something about the way the boy was lying on the ground that made him feel that not everything was what it seemed.

It wouldn't hurt just to make sure that the kid was okay, right? So, after hoisting himself up to his feet, Ichigo decided to walk over to where the smaller male was lying and as he approached him he couldn't help but feel in his gut that he wasn't just taking a simple snooze.

"Hey… um, kid you alright?" Ichigo asked cautiously unable to stop staring the still unmoving figure before him. The strawberry got no response so he decided to attempt to rouse the boy in order to hopefully have the kid tell him that he was just being stupid and that he had just been simply sleeping, but even after he shook the mystery boy's shoulder he still didn't stir and now Ichigo was starting to get worried. Something weird was going on and he was secretly hoping that it wasn't as bad as he thought.

"Hey… can you hear me?" Ichigo said concern becoming more prominent in his voice every second. The young doctor-to-be gently rolled the boy over so that he see his face and wasn't all that surprised when it the white-haired boy looked really pale with the exception of his cheeks which were practically flaming red. Ichigo first put his cheek down near the boy's mouth to make sure that he was still breathing and to his relief he was. It was slightly labored, but the important thing was that he was at least breathing. Next, the strawberry decided to check his temperature and when he placed his palm against the boy's forehead; Ichigo drew his had back almost instantly shocked with the heat radiating from it. _Shit._ He thought to himself as he looked around the immediate vicinity trying to see if there could possibly anyone that might be with the kid, but no-one seemed to be paying any attention to the two teenagers near the edge of the lake at all.

_I wish he was conscious… that would make everything so much less complicated… _While the strawberry knew that the mysterious teenager in his arms needed medical attention immediately, he didn't want to take him away from any family or guardians that might be with him.

_Screw it, I can't just sit here and do nothing. _Then as Ichigo pulled out his phone something struck him. "Ah shit… I'm supposed to be back at the hospital right now… if I call dad then he's gonna know that I've skipped out on my duties again and just yesterday he did tell me that if he caught him skipping out again then there were going to be serious repercussions… oh the joy of being Isshin Kurosaki's son. _I'll just have to figure out how to deal with that shit later… right now I need to get this guy to the hospital ASAP._ Ichigo quickly opened his phone and dialed his dad's number while also deciding to lift the unconscious boy into his arms and start walking briskly in the direction that he had originally come from; hopefully he could meet the ambulance on the side of the park that was closer to the hospital.

"Hello?" Came the voice of the elder Kurosaki.

"Hey, dad-" Ichigo started to say before he was quickly interrupted by his father.

"Ichigo, where in god's name did you disappear off to? I called for you to be sent up to my office nearly a half-hour ago! You better not have run off again… you know how I feel about those escapades of yo-"

"Dad!" The strawberry yelled desperately as he tried to get his father's attention and luckily Isshin was able to recognize the urgency in his son's voice.

"Okay, what's going on, Ichigo…?" Isshin asked a tone of annoyance still obvious in his voice.

Ichigo decided that this was no time for fabricated lies and that he had no choice but to come totally clean to his dad about the situation. "Yes, I did skip out on my duties at the hospital and decided to go to the park to take a break, but I found a kid unconscious by the side of the lake and I think he has a pretty bad case of heatstroke. I need an ambulance here immediately!" Ichigo tried to keep his voice steady and calm because he dad said the worst thing a doctor could possibly do in an emergency was to panic, but he just couldn't help it. Despite all the practice and demonstrations he had never been in a situation like this on his own and it was nothing like he had ever experienced before.

"Okay Ichigo, the first thing you need to do is to take a deep breath and calm down." Isshin said firmly from the other side of the phone before continuing. "The ambulance is on its way and is going to meet you on the corner of 31st and High Street. Be there as soon as possible; I'll be waiting in the ER for you and you can fill me in on everything when you get here."

"Thanks, Dad."

Ichigo quickly snapped his phone shut and set off in an all out sprint in the direction of the place his dad had told him to meet the ambulance and as he ran, he couldn't help but glance down at the boy in his arms and he feel a rather large pang of sadness in his heart for the boy. _How long had he been laying out there before I found him? How come no-one else tried to help him? Is he going to be okay?_ All these questions were just bombarding the strawberry's brain as he wiped a large amount of sweat currently decorating the young boy's furrowed brow. _I don't know who you are, but don't worry, I'm gonna get you help._ The only recognition that he got from the boy was a small groan that passed by the smaller's lips before he was once again still and silent in Ichigo's arms.

Ichigo arrived at the destined intersection and before he knew it the afternoon air was filled with the blaring sirens and the blinding flashes of the ambulance lights and in another instant Ichigo was surrounded by a group of EMTs who quickly took the young boy from the strawberry before placing him on a stretcher and loading it into the ambulance.

"Ichigo-sir, what are you doing here?" One of the men asked as Ichigo approached the back of the ambulance.

"I was the one that found this boy, so I am going to be accompanying you on the ride to the hospital. I have something I need to discuss with my father as well." Ichigo replied quickly as the men nodded in acknowledgment and then he and everyone else piled into the back of the ambulance as they sped off as fast as they could towards the hospital.

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><p>"Ichigo, what happened?" Isshin Kurosaki insisted as soon as his son and a group of already assembled doctors swarmed around the young boy being currently being wheeled into the ER.<p>

"I'll tell you everything later… but first you need to help him!" Ichigo practically yelled as he motioned towards the limp boy on the stretcher.

Isshin looked the boy up and down finding that no external injuries were obvious except for a few places on his body that were badly sunburned. _Heatstroke, no doubt about it and it's more serious that I had thought…_ Isshin thought quickly to himself as he began to think about what treatment would be most effective in this particular case. "Wheel him into the room at the end of the hall!" The elder Kurosaki demanded. The men simply nodded before disappearing into the room and Ichigo was practically in the door when his father stuck out a hand in front of him preventing the strawberry going any further.

"Dad, get out of the way so I can-"

"No." Isshin demanded.

"Bu-" Ichigo tried to protest, but was once again was unable to finish his thought before being interrupted by his father.

"Normally, I would have you in here in a second to be able to experience this kind of thing, but considering how serious this is I need to be able to concentrate and do all I can for this boy before it's too late… I'm sorry Ichigo. Next time if the case isn't so serious you will be in here, I promise." Isshin stated swiftly and without even waiting for a response from his obviously frustrated son he disappeared into the room where several doctors were already trying to save the young boy's life.

Ichigo merely stayed frozen to the spot; how could his father just shut him out like that? He never thought he would actually _want_ to be part of one of his dad's crazy 'learn how to be a doctor' stunts, but for once he did. Which raised the question, _what is it about this kid that makes him any more special than anyone else…_ Without even thinking about what he was doing, Ichigo barged into the room his dad had disappeared into mere moments ago.

"Wha-" Ichigo spluttered at the sight that met him or more particularly the sounds that met him.

"Dr. Kurosaki, his temperature keeps climbing!"

"What should we do?"

"The cold packs don't seem to be having any effect!"

There was one voice however that roared among the commotion commanding order. "Everyone calm down! Someone get a bath of cool water ready for the patient!" A few of the doctors ran quickly to the side of the room where a small tub was situated and started filling it with water except for one doctor with a confused look on her face, refusing to move from Isshin's presence.

"But, doctor… is that really the best thing to do with the patient in question being unconscious?"

"I did consider that, but we don't have much of a choice at this point…" The elder Kurosaki replied, "If we don't bring this boy's temperature down soon it very well may be too late." Isshin shook his head dismissively, "We will just have to make sure someone will make sure to keep his head above the water until his body reaches a safer temperature…" It was then that Isshin noticed Ichigo frozen at the door.

"Ichigo! I told you to stay outsid-actually, instead of that I would prefer if you go wait in my office; I have something I need to discuss with you when I finish here."

"But-"

"No buts, Ichigo. Now go." Ichigo knew when not to argue with his father and this was undoubtedly one of those times. So regretfully, Ichigo left the room knowing that he would have to leave it to his father to do all he could to save the young white-haired boy's life. Isshin was after all the best doctor in town and if anyone could do it he could.

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><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading! Now that summer has decided to roll around I _should_ have more time to work on this story along with Hidden Truths. In the meanwhile please review! I'd really like to know how you think the story is going. :) Thanks again!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks to everyone that reviewed last chapter! I was really nervous about it, but I'm really, really glad you guys enjoyed it and I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much... or maybe more...! O.o  
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Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. **  
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><p>"I just don't know what I'm going to do with you… Ichigo- are you even listening?" Isshin finished, clearly frustrated with his son's obvious lack of attention or focus. He had been lecturing Ichigo for the past hour on the usual stuff… how irresponsible he had been, how unmotivated he was, how after being told numerous times <em>not<em> to just leave the hospital whenever he felt like it, he still chose to anyway.

Honestly, to Ichigo this was really nothing new… he knew his dad meant well and wanted to as he said, "teach him a valuable life lesson," but really it failed to do anything other than bore him to death.

"But dad, if I hadn't of skipped out on my duties then I never would have come across that kid in the park and you know as well as I do that he probably would have died if he stayed where he was much longer… so really you should be thanking me for saving his life." Ichigo smirked as he watched to see how his father would react to his attempting to twist the situation around on him, but Isshin's reaction wasn't what the strawberry expected at all.

"You know that I'm thankful that you were able to help that young boy, but that alone does not forgive your actions." Isshin sighed, wondering why he even bothered anymore. There was nothing that he had done that had been successful in keeping Ichigo from skipping off out of the hospital at random hours of the day. He had tried everything he could think of… he had assigned Ichigo a few new interns to shadow him through the day, but then the young doctor-to-be would just end up quickly showing them around the hospital before telling them to take the rest of the day off. I mean, who's gonna argue with the owner's son? Not a group of new interns that for sure. Isshin had even just simply tried punishing the younger Kurosaki male with taking away privileges, giving him extra shifts at the hospital, and even just grounding him except for when he came to the hospital… but since he already practically spent all his time at the hospital the last one didn't really make all that much of a difference either.

"Dad…?" Ichigo asked suddenly.

"Yea… hmm… what?" Isshin asked absentmindedly, getting unexpectedly pulled from his thoughts.

"You just sorta spaced out…" Ichigo muttered. "But anyway… can you tell me what happened to the kid after I left?"

This comment left Isshin slightly baffled as Ichigo had never really shown any particular interest in any one patient before, but he quickly shook it off as the simple fact that Ichigo had been the one to find the boy and get him to the hospital, so of course he would be curious as to how things when after he had done his part. "We were finally able to get his temperature out of the danger zone, but not much lower than that I'm afraid." Isshin shook his head sadly. "When I last checked on him about an hour ago he still had a very high temperature and as much as I'd like to contribute that to a simple case of the flu, there's just something that doesn't sit right with me."

"Hmm… gotcha." Ichigo muttered again. "Well, that's good news, I guess." The strawberry looked like he was about to get up and leave before a sudden thought struck him. "Do we have any idea about who he is yet?"

Another shake of the head from the older Kurosaki, "No, unfortunately we don't. He has yet to regain consciousness and we haven't been able to find any type of identification on him; seems as though we are just going to have to wait a little longer on that matter."

Ichigo nodded before standing up out of the chair that he had been forced to sit on for who knew how long. All the strawberry knew was that his butt was extremely sore and he really needed to get away from his old man for a good long while. Right as he was about to ask if his dad needed anything else before he left, he was cut off by the shrill annoying ring that belonged to his dad's phone.

"One second, Ichigo. I need to take this." Isshin said quickly before picking up the phone. "Isshin Kurosaki speaking… what…? ... No, I didn't… I was just there less than an hour ago… No… Okay, I'll be right there… tell everyone to keep looking."

Only hearing half of the conversation had done nothing but utterly confuse the strawberry on what the heck his father could have been talking about. Ichigo couldn't make hide nor hair of anything that had come out of his dad's mouth and it bugged the hell out of him.

"Excuse me Ichigo, I have an important matter to attend to." Isshin stood up from behind his desk, "Don't think you're getting off scott-free on this though, we will finish this conversation when I return."

Ichigo simply nodded as he watched his dad get together all his things and leave the office. "Dad?" he asked before Isshin had managed to get out of earshot.

"Can't this wait, Ichigo? I need to get downstairs as fast as I can to try and solve this issue before it snowballs." Isshin replied hastily as he froze at the exit of the large office.

"Yea, no it's fine…" The strawberry muttered to himself and after a few seconds realizing that Ichigo had nothing left to say he quickly disappeared from sight.

_If he thinks that I'm just going to wait in here for who knows how long then he obviously doesn't know me as well as he thinks he does._ Ichigo thought to himself as he mimicked his father's movements out of his chair in front of the desk and slipping out the same door his father had mere moments ago.

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><p>It was right as Ichigo left his father's office that a particularly loud noise from his stomach made him realize that after all the day's excitement he had totally forgotten to eat dinner. Since he just so happened to have some free time on his hands at the moment and his father had to deal with whatever it was that had called him out of his office, why not make a trip down to the hospital cafeteria to get some food? He would be able to relax for once and hopefully his dad would be tied up long enough that the strawberry wouldn't have to deal with him for the rest of the night. <em>In a perfect world...<em> He thought glumly.

As Ichigo was making his way towards the cafeteria he noticed that the hospital seemed a lot busier than usual. It wasn't that there were a lot of patients being rolled into the many vacant rooms; it just seemed that all the doctors, nurses and even some security guards were running around frantically like chickens with their heads cut-off. The strawberry tried to pull one of the many people rushing around off to the side so that he could ask them what the heck was going on, but no-one even seemed to notice him. It was a weird feeling, not having all the attention on him for once; it was… kinda… nice.

Reveling in his new found freedom pushed the thought of trying to figure out what was going on out of the strawberry's mind and soon he found himself right outside the cafeteria with a content smile on his face.

There was nothing all that fancy available in the cafeteria… it was still hospital food after all and hospitals were rarely known for their gourmet food, but despite the lackluster options available to him, Ichigo found himself in a very good mood. His dad still hadn't sent word for him as far as he knew and so he had had more time to just relax than he ever would have suspected. He finally finished his late dinner and to be honest, wasn't really sure what to do with himself. At first he wanted to go outside and enjoy the beautiful night, but then again, sneaking out of the hospital was the thing that had started this whole mess and he wasn't really sure that that would turn out so well… Then Ichigo remembered that there was a huge flat screen in one of the lounges on the lower floors. Maybe he would be able to catch a few shows that he had used to watch before he had gotten so busy with the hospital. Anxious to get down to where he could actually act like a normal teenager, Ichigo practically sprinted out of the practically empty cafeteria.

Ichigo had just about reached the lounge and had noticed that things inside the hospital had seemed to get even crazier than they had been before he had entered the cafeteria. There was a sense of panic in everyone's demeanor and Ichigo was almost tempted to ask if there was anything he could do to help, but the temptation that awaited him just one floor down was simply too great.

"Mr. Kurosaki?" One nurse asked as he noticed the orange-teenager walking towards her.

"Yea..?" The strawberry answered still preoccupied with the thoughts of the lounge still fresh in his mind.

"Have you seen your father recently?" the young nurse asked nervously.

"Uh… no. Can't say I have." Ichigo shrugged. "I was with him in his office earlier, but then he got called away for something important. He wouldn't tell me what, sorry."

"Oh, okay… sorry to have bothered you." She nodded before running off in the opposite direction.

_Well… that was weird. _Ichigo thought to himself as he continued on his way. He got as far as half-way down the flight of stairs when something or more particularly, _someone_ happened to catch the corner of his eye. It seemed as though the person had just exited the stairwell a few floors down. That wasn't the think that struck Ichigo as awkward though; what struck Ichigo as awkward was that the figure had looked oddly familiar… he knew he would probably regret it later, but decided to go check things out anyway.

The strawberry emerged from the floor that he had seen the mysterious figure disappear to, but nothing seemed out of place; maybe except for the fact that this floor seemed to be much calmer than the other floors Ichigo had been walking through recently. He walked down the hall a little further hoping to catch another glimpse of the person he had seen only moments ago, but didn't see anyone particularly out of the ordinary even when he made his way down the entire hallway. _Good job, Ichigo…_He thought to himself as he made his way back towards the stairs. _You've just wasted the precious time that you could have used for relaxing…_ It was only when he reached the middle of the hall yet again that he realized why the person in the stairwell had looked so familiar.

"You…" Ichigo breathed. He just couldn't believe it… snow-white hair, small and skinny frame not to mention a pale complexion, except for the face of course, which was still tinted a rosy red. No doubt about it… it was the same boy that he had discovered in the park and not to mention personally brought back to the hospital.

The small boy looked up, breathing heavily as he leaned up against the bland white hospital wall. "What do you want?" he asked dully.

"Where do you think you're going…?" The strawberry asked as he raised his eyebrow in slight mock-curiosity while continuing to look over the boy he had brought into the emergency room just a short time ago.

"What does it look like? I'm leaving." the boy grunted, yet remained completely still against the wall.

"Well…" Ichigo couldn't help but laugh at the outlandish situation, "Being the guy that found you passed out in the park and brought you here, I disagree."

"Thanks for your concern, but I'm fine." The boy muttered, ignoring the strawberry's words as he attempted to move past Ichigo.

"Sure doesn't look like it." Ichigo said as he put up an arm to stop the boy, he knew he still had a long way to go to become a doctor, but he wasn't _that_ naive. "You need to go back to your room. You were just admitted less than 24 hours ago for a severe case of heatstroke; you shouldn't even be out of bed yet."

This caused the boy to glare up at Ichigo with just about as much frustration as anger in his eyes. "Get out of my way." He growled through gritted teeth.

Ichigo held his ground as his gaze locked with the white-haired boy in-front of him. "You idiot, you're in no condition to be leaving this hospital. I'm surprised that you even got this far without anyone stopping you… why is it so important for you to leave here?"

"That's none of your business." The boy grumbled as he once again tried to force himself past the strawberry. "Now, let me pass."

_What's with this kid? _Ichigo thought to himself. _Why is he so goddamn insistent on leaving… especially when he still looks like he's gonna fall over at any second? _The whole situation honestly baffled the strawberry, but that didn't mean that he would back down. "What's your room number?" Ichigo tried again.

"Doesn't matter… I'm not going back." Ichigo couldn't help but to suppress a small groan.

"I don't care who the hell you think you are kid, but I can't on good conscious let you leave here while you're still sick."

"I'm not-" the boy tried to argue but was quickly interrupted by Ichigo.

"Bull-shit." Ichigo said as firmly as he could without having to yell and before the boy could make any more protests, Ichigo grabbed his thin wrist and started dragging him back down the hallway to the nearest nurse's station; they would know which room the boy was in.

"Wha-What are you…? Stop!" The white-haired boy exclaimed when he finally realized what was happening starting to struggle furiously against the larger male. "Let go of me!"

"Sorry, not gonna happen." Ichigo shrugged as he refused to give way to any of the boy's attempts to get free. Luckily, he wasn't in much of a state to resist and any and all attempts to free himself were next to useless against the strawberry.

"G-Get… off…" the struggling boy gasped as he started breathing even harder than before from all his flailing around. Ichigo could tell he was reaching his limits when his words started slurring and he soon completely abandoned almost all efforts to escape the strawberry's grasp. " 'm fine…" came another weak reply, his voice now almost near a whisper.

"Look at yourself…" Ichigo sighed. "You're obviously not fine and you need to stop being an idiot so you can realize that you need help."

"Lemme… go…" The younger male replied again, obviously either not hearing the young doctor or just simply not caring.

Ichigo couldn't believe this boy's stubbornness right now… even with him practically supporting the younger male, the kid still refused to see truth.

"Okay then, if you think you're fine let's see you leave… It's not like I'm trying to help you or anything." Ichigo growled as he at last relinquished his iron hold from the boy's pale wrist. It took few moments for the boy to register that he had finally been freed and then another few moments for him to start stumbling slowly back in the original direction that he had been heading before Ichigo had come along. He didn't even make it halfway down the hall till he finally collapsed before being swiftly caught by the expectant, yet still annoyed strawberry. Ichigo knew the kid wasn't going to get far and so had been careful to follow right behind the delusional boy just counting down the seconds till his exhausted body would finally shut down. _Idiot._ Was all the strawberry had to think on that matter and after collecting the white-haired kid in his arms continued his trek to the other end of the hallway where a nurse center would be so that he could locate where the kid's room was.

Uhm… excuse me?" Ichigo asked awkwardly as he approached one of the nurse's stations, with the still mystery boy in his arms.

"What can I do for you today…?" A rather plump nurse asked, her eyes refusing to leave the magazine she was currently reading as she continued flipping through the pages.

"I need to know where-." A though occurred to Ichigo halfway through his sentence. _Wow… all that and I forgot to ask his name… good job, Ichigo… good job…_ "Uhh… I need to know this kid's room number; I found him wandering the halls, but he passed out before I could ask him where his room was." Not a complete lie, but it would do for its purposes.

"What's his name…?" The lady replied lazily, still refusing to tear her eyes away from the magazine.

Ichigo groaned. "I don't know."

"Sorry son, can't do much if I don't know his name."

"Fine…" Ichigo grumbled again. "I'll just go find my dad… he'll know." Ichigo didn't even look back as he exited the hallway and made his way up a floor where hopefully he could find someone a bit more cooperative that could get in contact with his father.

As soon as Ichigo emerged into the next hallway he was instantly mobbed by what had to be at least ten doctors, ten nurses and like three security guards. At first, he thought everyone was yelling at him, but then soon realized that it was not him that they were obsessing over, but the young boy in his arms.

"Ichigo, sir! You found him!"

"Thank god you found him! We thought something bad had happened!"

"Where on earth did you find him, Mr. Kurosaki?"

All the voices were silenced and everyone parted when none other than Isshin Kurosaki walked up towards where his son was still standing, dazed from all the sudden commotion.

"Ichigo… where did you find that boy? We have been looking for him for quite some time. When one of the nurses went to check on him she found that his bed was empty and then that's when she called my office. He shouldn't even be out of bed yet, let alone leaving the hospital." Isshin explained as he motioned for Ichigo to follow him. The elder Kurosaki led his son to one of the rooms on the floor and took the young boy before disappearing into the room for a few minutes. It wasn't long before Isshin reappeared and started leading Ichigo to who knew where.

"Did you find him conscious?"

Ichigo frowned thinking back to the small argument he had with the boy before he had collapsed. "Yea, I did… but he passed out before I was able to actually get any information from him, kept talking about how he was fine, but it was pretty damn obvious that he was lying."

"Hmm… I see…" Isshin said as he stroked his goatee. "That's unfortunate. Oh well… not much we can do until we are able to talk to him."

"Yea… I guess so." Ichigo sighed as continued to try and wrap his mind around why the boy had been so desperate to leave the hospital.

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><p>The next morning, Ichigo decided to take his sweet time getting to the hospital, he was completely wiped from the previous day's events and not to mention the fact that his father had kept him at the hospital till what seemed like two in the morning. The strawberry had considered just crashing in one of the employee lounges, but when Isshin insisted he go home a get some decent sleep he really couldn't argue. Though it couldn't help Ichigo from wondering what craziness awaited him today… when his father though that he needed a good night sleep then that probably meant that the next day in the hospital was going to be absolute mayhem.<p>

"Good morning, Mr. Kurosaki." The lady at the front desk greeted the strawberry as he entered the large hospital.

"Good morning." Ichigo mumbled out sleepily as he walked past. He felt slightly guilty for sounding so dismissive, but it wasn't his fault that he wasn't a morning person. Of course you would think that he would have this thing down after having been ushered into the hospital so many times at ungodly hours of the morning with his old man, but the truth was that he had never gotten used to it and wasn't going to start now.

Another lady walked up to him as he continued walking down the hall. "Ichigo? Your father is waiting for you upstairs in his office."

Ichigo groaned. "Of course he is…" He thanked the girl as nicely as he could before continuing on his way to the elevators.

As soon as Ichigo arrived at his father's office he started hearing loud voices coming from the other side of the door. Ichigo wasn't sure if his father was busy with someone else so he decided to just wait outside; that was until he distinctly heard his name being mentioned.

"What's going on in here?" The strawberry's eyes widened as he entered the door to find not one, not two, but four other doctors in the room crowded around his father's desk. Isshin looked up the moment he heard the door open and his face seemed to relax slightly when he realized the person who barged in was his son.

"Ichigo, you're here just in time. We have a slight problem."

"Not to sound like I'm not interested, but problems aren't really anything new when you work in a hospital right?" Ichigo asked as he faced the group of doctors before him.

"This is different." Isshin replied as he exchanged looks between his gathered colleagues. "It involves the child that you brought into the ER yesterday…"

"Of course it does…" Ichigo groaned loudly. "And…" Ichigo asked preparing for what he knew his dad would inevitably say next.

"Well… as you witnessed yesterday, he isn't quite… pleased with his situation…" Isshin said slowly being sure to choose his words carefully. "It is quite unusual behavior and unfortunately I simply do not have the option of being in his room all the time to make sure that he stays put until he has recovered…"

Another loud groan from the younger Kurosaki, "And you want me to keep an eye on him." It was more of a statement than anything else.

"Yes, we need to keep a constant watch on him and since I can't be the one to do it," Isshin motioned to all the doctors that were still crowded around him, "We decided that you would be the next best thing, not to mention you were the one that found him."

"So lemme get this straight… you want me… to be his babysitter?" Ichigo asked in a flat voice.

"Well, not only that but we also need to figure who he is so that if he has any family we can contact them to let them know that he is safe." The man had obviously been rehearsing what he was going to say to his son to make him feel that the task he set out for his son was of the utmost importance.

"Well, I'm guessing I don't really have any choice in the matter… his room is still the same as yesterday?" Ichigo muttered as he turned away from his dad and made to exit the room.

"Yes." Isshin nodded while smiling at the fact that he had been able to more or less convince his hard-headed son. "Oh and Ichigo…?"

"Yea?"

"Just thought I'd let you know that when you get to the kids room, he's probably going to be asleep for awhile." Isshin added in a calm voice.

"What!" Ichigo exclaimed as he instantly spun around on the spot. "Why do I need to go down there if he's just gonna be sleeping the entire damn time…?"

Isshin laughed at his son's sudden outburst, "We felt it best to keep him asleep that is, until we came up with some sort of plan of action, which just so happened to be you." Ichigo couldn't help but roll his eyes at this statement. Isshin either didn't catch this or simply didn't care because without much more than a short breathe he continued. "Not only did it give us time to figure out a plan, but it also allows his body to get some well-needed rest."

"Mhmm… got it." Ichigo replied as he once again turned around to exit the expansive office not all to sure of what the rest of the day had in store for him.

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><p>Everything felt sore… and hot; well, mostly it was the heat that bothered him, but that was nothing new. It seemed that even when he was inside the heat refused to leave him alone. He wanted to open his eyes, he wanted to stretch and he wanted to throw off whatever seemed to be suffocating him to death… but no matter how much he wanted these things some people don't always get what they want and this again, was nothing new.<p>

It was only when he felt as though his throat was on the verge of bursting sporadically into flames did he manage to force his teal eyes open.

Everything was blurry at first and it took a few moments for anything to come into focus. At first he thought he had simply gone blind, the white was overpowering and it was so bright. He couldn't help but moan as he tried in vain to hide his eyes from the piercing lights overhead.

"So, you're finally awake." Came a voice to the side of where he was and he couldn't quite place it, but it seemly oddly familiar, yet not at the same time.

"Huh…?" His voice was cracked and hoarse and he regretted making any type of sound the second it left his lips.

"You sound horrible… want some water for your throat? I'm sure its sore as anything." A flash of orange as the figure who turned out to be a young male in an, of course… _white_ coat, passed in front of his bed disappearing for a moment into the small bathroom before reappearing moments later with a small cup of water filled to the brim.

"Thanks…" Toshiro whispered as he gratefully accepted the cup and greedily drained the content almost instantly.

"How are you feeling?" The strawberry asked as he took the cup back from the boy and watched him lay back against his pillow.

Now that he had been able to drink something the young boy was more capable of forming complete sentences. "My body feels like it's on fire and-" the boy suddenly stopped what he was saying when he realized why the person in front of him sounded and looked so familiar… "You're… You're the one…"

"Remember me eh?" Ichigo laughed nervously. He had slightly hoped that the boy had been delirious when he had encountered him earlier and wouldn't remember him… but that had apparently been wishful thinking.

"I'm guessing you're here to make sure I stay put…" the boy mused quietly as he tried to sit up slightly higher in his bed.

"I'm not here by choice, but yea… that's pretty much the gist of it." Ichigo sighed as he put away the book he had been reading before his charge had awoken.

"Why do you people insist on keeping me here when I continue to insist that I'm fine…?" The white haired boy asked tiredly.

_Oh god, not this again…_ Ichigo thought to himself. "Why are you so desperate to get out of here that you have to delude yourself into thinking that you're fine when you're obviously not?"

"Touché…" The young boy in the bed muttered. "It's none of your concern anyway…"

Ichigo hung his head, clearly frustrated. This was going no-where fast… like he had actually expected it to…? _Let's try another tactic, shall we?_ He thought to himself before looking back up at the impossible boy in the bed before him. "Okay, why don't we start over?" The strawberry extended his hand towards the younger male, "My name is Ichigo Kurosaki and I work here at the hospital. What's your name?"

The boy simply glared at the strawberry's extended hand, before turning his gaze higher coming to rest on the younger Kurosaki's face. "Toshiro Hitsugaya."

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><p><strong>AN: Sorry if Isshin seems kinda OOC in this chapter... but I guess I just feel that as the owner of an hospital you need to have a certain level of competence, ya know what I mean? Anywayys! Reviews make authors happy and happy authors write chapters faster! So pretty pretty puhleeze review? :D Thanks for reading!  
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	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: So, yea... it's been quite a while since I've updated this story... but there were a few reasons as to why it took me so long to get this chapter up. 1, I got distracted with my other stories that I'm currently writing and 2, It wasn't that I necessarily had writer's block on this, but there were a few things that I had to straighten out (plot-wise) before I could continue. The good news though is that everything has been fixed and set into place and I now know almost exactlyyy what I want to do with this story. :D Before I forget, Thanks to everyone who's reviewed/alerted/fav'ed this story! *hugs***

Disclaimer: Still don't own Bleach.**  
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><p><em>A young Toshiro that couldn't be much older than eleven or twelve was currently tossing and turning in his bed as a huge storm was passing through the local area. He had been trying for a few hours to fall asleep, but found he couldn't doze off between all the loud crashes of thunder, the bright flashes of lightning and not to mention not being able to get comfortable for more than a few minutes at a time. He suddenly shot up into a sitting position when he heard a particularly loud crash of thunder and with his large teal eyes wide; he stared into the blackness that cloaked his entire room.<em>

_Very slowly, the young boy pushed off the covers that he had been hiding under and swung his legs over the side of the bed so that he could push off his bed and slowly try and make the arduous journey from his bed to the door, attempting not to trip on anything that might have been scattered on his floor from earlier in the day. Once he finally managed to grip his doorknob firmly, as quietly as he could he turned the knob and pushed the door open; he could still hear the rain hammering down on the roof and being as young as he was, was slightly concerned that this storm would be too much and would make the roof collapse if it continued into the morning._

_Hoping that his parent's wouldn't be too mad that he was still up, Toshiro gingerly made his way down the darkened hallway where he knew his parent's room was. He certainly didn't expect the scene that met his eyes, or didn't meet his eyes when he opened the door. It was almost one in the morning and he had been sure that he would find his parent's sleeping peacefully in their room because they weren't the people to ever stay up all that late anyway, but here he was in their bedroom and they were no-where to be seen. The bed was a mess, the covers tossed aside much like Toshiro had left his bed so that meant that they had to have at point gone to bed, but then they must have gotten up again for some reason._

"_Mom…?" Toshiro called meekly into the empty room. "Dad…?" _

_Nothing. _

_Toshiro's mind started racing, why weren't they here? Where were they? Had something happened? Everything had seemed fine just a few hours ago when his mom had put him to bed. The white-haired youth rushed over towards his parent's window at the other side of the room, quickly looking out to check and see if their car was still in the driveway and sure enough it was. So, if the car was still here then his parent's had to still be in the house and that meant that they had to be downstairs, they just had to be. Where else would they go without a car, in the middle of the night, not to mention in the middle of a huge storm…?_

_Right as Toshiro had exited the room, he heard a very loud crashing sound coming from downstairs and Toshiro froze right where he stood, before running as fast as he could towards the staircase. As he approached the landing he started hearing voices. He recognized his mother's timid voice and his father's strong tone, but there was another… another voice that Toshiro couldn't quite recognize. _

"_You don't want to do this…" Toshiro's father's voice tried to reason._

"_Shut-up! You have no idea what I want!" The unknown voice yelled back._

"_Please…" Toshiro's mother pleaded._

_Toshiro knew bad stuff happened and his dad would commonly say, "Sometimes bad things happen to good people," and Toshiro would nod and agree, but never really realize the full extent of that saying until he happened to step in his living room about to ask his mom and dad what they arguing about._

"_Mom…? Dad…? What's going on…?" The boy asked innocently as he wandered slowly into the room._

_The look on Toshiro's mother's face could only be described as one of pure and unbridled horror as she helplessly watched her one and only beloved son walk innocently into the room._

"_Toshiro…" she breathed, trying to keep her voice calm but still not being able to cover the fact that she was now beyond the point of panic. "G-Go back to bed, honey…"_

"_But what-" Toshiro started to ask before he was cut off when he found himself practically staring down the barrel of a large handgun. Toshiro froze and meanwhile the mysterious man started laughing… but there was just something about his deafening almost cackle-like laugh that pricked at Toshiro's subconscious, a chill shot down his spine, but it almost seemed familiar… like a spot of déjà-vu, yet despite looking straight up at the man, said man's face remained obscured to the boy._

_Then as fast as the world had seemed to freeze, time seemed to fly into fast-forward; his mom was on the ground crying and his father was still trying in vain to reason with this mysterious man… it was almost like he felt he would be more successful getting through to this man than anyone else. But then, without any warning or notice a single shot rang out amongst the chaos, and this time it was Toshiro's turn to scream._

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><p>Ichigo slowly lifted his eyes from the book he had been reading as he looked over towards the young boy sleeping in the sole hospital bed in the room. Had had been sleeping pretty peacefully for a while now; that was until just a few moments ago when his body started twitching slightly. A few more seconds passed and the boy began mumbling something under his breath that Ichigo couldn't make any sense of. The strawberry shrugged it off as nothing because talking in your sleep wasn't a particularly rare thing and he had just turned his attention back to his book when Toshiro let out a sudden scream, instantly shooting up in his bed while clutching himself and looking as pale as if he had just seen a ghost.<p>

"Toshiro…!" Ichigo exclaimed as he rushed over towards him thrown off by the sudden outburst. "What's wrong? Are you hurting somewhere…?"

Toshiro didn't say anything; he was way too out of it to even try and comprehend what the strawberry had said.

"Toshiro, you need to calm down, okay?" Said boy didn't reply and instead proceeded to bring his knees up to his body so that he could remove his arms from his sides and instead latch onto his legs.

"Toshiro… look at me." Ichigo insisted firmly and finally it seemed that Toshiro was beginning to notice the young doctor's presence and very slowly he brought his head up from its previous resting place on his knees, taking a few deep breaths before he finally returned Ichigo's anxious gaze.

"Sorry…" he muttered.

"What happened?"

"I-It's nothing… really."

"You actually expect me to believe that…?" Ichigo probably would have laughed if he wasn't so concerned.

"I expect you to mind your own business." Toshiro replied, his usual cold tone already returning.

Ichigo simply stared slack jawed Toshiro for a few moments before turning around and walking to the other side of the room, taking deep breaths so that he wouldn't end up 'accidentally' strangling the smaller male. "You know what…?" Ichigo finally stated more as a statement than a question.

"What?" the annoyance still very much present in the white-haired boy's voice.

"I've come to a conclusion." The strawberry continued as he took a deep breath and turned around to face Toshiro.

"And I'm sure you're going to tell me whether I ask or not so let's just get this over with, shall we?"

"You're delusional." Ichigo stated matter of factly. "That's the only reasonable solution for your behavior since you've arrived here."

"If that's what you want to believe, then go for it." Toshiro replied as he slowly laid back down to rest his head on his pillow. _You have no idea what I've had to go through, so don't talk like you know me._ He thought to himself as he positioned himself so that his body was facing away from the only other person in the room. He doubted he would be able to get any genuine rest, but at least this way he could always pretend just so that he wouldn't have to argue with one increasingly aggravating strawberry that obviously didn't have a clue about the mess that was his life. Though he wasn't even sure if he could call it a life… he sure didn't feel like he had truly lived since his parents had died and all that pain, fear and confusion that Toshiro had had to put up with for all those years… it was all because of _him…_ the one man who had put a stop to everything in one night and succeeded in turning his entire world upside down.

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><p>"Why can't you just accept the fact that you aren't as perfectly healthy as you think you are?" An exasperated strawberry muttered as he glared over towards where Toshiro was sitting in his hospital bed, his arms crossed in defiance and his head tilted ever so slightly away from Ichigo's gaze. Things had just seemed to go downhill ever since the incident earlier that day and the young doctor continued to get nothing in response except for when the boy would look over in his direction for just long enough to send a death glare his way before resuming to stare blankly at the spot he had been staring at for the past hour.<p>

Ichigo hadn't been able to get a word out of the boy since their small spat earlier that morning. He realized he might not have exactly handled the situation brilliantly, but he couldn't help it. He wasn't in the best of moods right now because his 'guest of honor' for god knew what reason hadn't fallen asleep till at least what had to have been 3am the previous night and by that point it was more trouble that it was worth to go home and try and get some sleep himself, so Ichigo had spent the night trying to get comfortable in the not-so-comfortable visitor chairs available to him in the room.

Ichigo groaned as his stomach rumbled loudly for what had to be fifth time in the last half hour. _I'm so hungry… _he thought glumly to himself. _But I know that if I leave for more than a few minutes, Mr. delusional over there is would without a doubt try to make yet another break for it._ The strawberry had just about gotten to the point of tying the kid to his bed when the door to their room swung open and a young, and not to mention extremely energetic nurse walked in wheeling a small cart in-front of her.

"Good morning Mr. Hitsugaya, and oh- a good morning to you too, Mr. Kurosaki!" She exclaimed as she pushed the small cart she had with her right next to Toshiro's bed. "Sorry it took us so long to get here, but we had a small situation in the kitchen and well, we've been behind schedule _all_ day!" She was obviously trying to make the white haired boy feel more comfortable, by randomly chattering about anything and everything that seemed to cross her mind as she went through and checked to see that everything was okay. It didn't even seem to matter to her when Toshiro didn't say a word in reply; she simply continued on as if nothing was wrong and finally when she had finished she turned her attention to the strawberry behind her.

"Don't worry, I didn't forget about you, Mr. Kurosaki!" she almost yelled into the starving teenager's ear causing him to flinch slightly. "I wasn't really sure what you would be in the mood for today, so I just brought up what we are giving all the other patients; but if you would like something else then I can always go back and order something special for you, but then of course you would have to wait a bit longer before I can bring it up to you since we can't give you food if it hasn't been prepared yet, that would just be ridiculous, wouldn't it?" Ichigo was sure that she would have kept babbling nonsense if he didn't say something soon.

"It's okay, I'm fine with this." He muttered tiredly as he got up out of his seat so that he could grab some utensils, while the nurse pulled a plate out from under the cart and placed it on the only small table in the room. "If I need anything, I'll be sure to let you ladies know. Thanks." The young girl merely giggled as she exited the room leaving the two boys to themselves yet again.

Ichigo was half way through his plate when he just so happened to look up and-_big surprise_… Toshiro hadn't touched a single piece of food on his plate.

"Don't tell me that you're also too stubborn to eat…?" Ichigo groaned. The boy's lips moved slightly like he had possibly whispered something, but there was no way in hell that the strawberry had been able to hear it. "Can't hear you…"

"…'m not hungry…" came the young white haired boy's soft reply.

"You gotta be kidding me…" Ichigo sighed as he put down his fork and just started to stare to boy down. He opened his mouth like he was about to start arguing with the boy again, but found that if previous experience proved anything, fighting with the smaller male would just end up like everything ended lately. Ichigo would call the kid crazy and then he would proceed to ignore the strawberry. _I swear… if I ever make it out of this alive… dad is so going to pay for this… _"Whatever… if you wanna to starve yourself, go right ahead… it's not like I'm trying to help you or anything." The strawberry muttered sarcastically and just loud enough so that he knew Toshiro could hear him before returning to his previously abandoned food.

Toshiro continued to look at his food as though he was debating whether it was worth it or not. Despite the fact that Toshiro was pretty sure that Ichigo thought he was just being difficult, truth be told, he really wasn't _that _hungry. In actuality, he wanted to eat… he hoped that it would settle his stomach and maybe even relive his headache, but his appetite seemed to have other ideas. Toshiro guessed that even if he did manage to force some food into his body, it wouldn't take long for it to reject said food and he was quite convinced that he didn't want to add vomiting to the long list of crap he currently had to put up with; the young orange-haired doctor currently topping that list.

An unsteady silence soon grew between the two boys as one of them continued to eat while the other pushed their food aside, knowing that despite the fact it didn't look all that appetizing, he couldn't deny the smell was very tempting to his empty stomach. Ichigo couldn't help but feel awkward in his position; practically inhaling his food while his so called patient refused to even touch his. It only seemed to get worse when Ichigo finally finished and he no longer had any food to distract himself from his boredom and frustration.

"I need to go to the bathroom; I'll be right back so don't think about going anywhere." Ichigo suddenly blurted out, breaking the uncomfortable stillness.

Ichigo stood in the small bathroom as he turned on the sink and started splashing water on his face as he thought about all that had happened in the past few days and the mystery of why he kept trying to help this kid that obviously didn't want any help. He thought back on everything that he had learned from his classes and even everything he had learned from Isshin during his time at the hospital and was pretty sure no-one had ever mentioned how to deal with someone who actually kept trying to escape; and from a hospital of all places. Realizing if he didn't get back soon he would probably have yet another problem to deal with, Ichigo quickly dried his hands and face, took a deep breath and ventured back into the small hospital room that he had been practically living in since his dad had stuck him there.

The strawberry was surprised when he reentered the room, but for completely different reasons than he would have thought. For one, Toshiro was miraculously still in bed and by the looks of it hadn't even attempted to get up because his tray of food that the nurse from earlier had brought in remained untouched and undisturbed right in front of him. Another thing that stunned the strawberry was that fact that Toshiro was sleeping quite serenely, his petite body almost molding with the surrounding covers, pillows and blankets. How could one person cause so much chaos while awake, but instill so much calm and peace as he slept…? Toshiro Hitsugaya was certainly an interesting patient indeed.

* * *

><p>"So he seems to be doing a lot better than when he first got here despite the fact that he barely gets any solid rest and he refuses to eat anything." Ichigo told his dad as the two were currently standing right outside Toshiro's hospital room door. Isshin had wanted to have them actually stay in the room with the boy while Ichigo debriefed him, but when his son told him Toshiro was finally sleeping soundly and he didn't want to risk waking him up he agreed.<p>

"Well that's good. Though I wish we knew the cause of his strange behavior…"Isshin sighed "In all the people I have ever treated over the year, I've never met someone quite like him."

"He's definitely one of a kind; that's for sure." Ichigo agreed almost laughing. "So what's our plan of action, old man?"

"All we can really do at the moment is to continue to monitor him and if he continues to improve as he has been, we release him." The older man shrugged. He wasn't used to being baffled on cases; sure he might get cases that would initially stump him, but there was a big difference between this boy and all those other cases. They actually _wanted_ help and would cooperate with everything he said, never complaining along the way and through that cooperation Isshin would almost always get a fast and accurate diagnosis and have the patient out of the hospital within the week depending on the severity of their condition. But this boy… this young boy, who couldn't be more than a few years younger than Ichigo… there had to be something going on that they weren't aware of.

Suddenly, Isshin's pager started going berserk; he took quick glance before letting forth an exhausted sigh. "Sorry, Ichigo… there is a situation in the ER that requires my immediate attention. Just keep an eye on the boy and report to me if his condition changes at all." Ichigo barely had time to nod before Isshin was already half way down the hallway.

* * *

><p><em>It was raining as hard as ever as a lone car speeded along a deserted road. The storm that had been beating on the local towns seemed as though it was finally reaching its climax as was a certain situation in a certain small car that insisted on braving the storm as the sky continued to be consumed in chaos while thunder crashed and lighting flashed all around them.<em>

_Despite the chaos of their surroundings there was nothing but silence inside the car; it wasn't concentration that induced this unstable silence, instead it was simply fear. The youngest of the passengers was huddled terrified in his mother's embrace. It was a small comfort that young Toshiro had, but he feared he would die of fright if his mother were not there with him. Silent tears streamed down Mrs. Hitsugaya's face as she looked straight ahead and into the front seat where the other two occupants of the vehicle sat. The driver was her beloved husband, and the other man was the sole cause of all the family's problems. He sat with a cruel grin on his face, more relaxed that you could possibly think one could get while driving through a huge storm in the dead of night. He put his feet up on the dashboard as he ran his bony fingers across the small handgun he currently had pointing lazily in Mr. Hitsugaya's direction._

"_Mom… what's going to happen to us?" Toshiro whispered as quiet as he possibly could muster so that his mother would hear him, but the man with the gun in the front seat hopefully wouldn't._

"_Don't worry darling, your father will figure something out." Toshiro's mother whispered back, her voice just as quiet as he son's. She didn't want her son to be anymore scared that he already was, but if she was being honest with herself, things weren't looking good._

_The car continued for what seemed like forever, leaving their small town far behind as the country emerged and the rain seemed to lessen, but only slightly. Toshiro's father couldn't help but think that maybe he would be forced to drive this car aimlessly until then ran out of gas… and then, in a split second everything came together and as he began to recognize familiar sights, he knew exactly where this man was guiding them; and it wasn't good._

_As the car delved even deeper into the country, one could notice that the more nervous Toshiro's father got, the more excited the man in the seat next to him seemed to get as well. They turned onto a small dirt road and the man started laughing again, it was the same chilling and yet somehow familiar laugh which continued to prick at Toshiro's subconscious. Not even an instant later, he felt his mother's embrace tighten as he heard the mysterious man up front stop dead in the middle of laughing and was able to hear him start cursing as he swung his gun around before a bright light all of a sudden consumed the small car and everything in it and then as suddenly Toshiro's world was bathed in a bright light, everything was submerged into complete darkness._

* * *

><p>Ichigo knew that it was going to be another rough night in the hospital that night, but not in the way that he would have expected. He had finally been able to get one of the nurses to stay in Toshiro's room while the boy slept so that he could sneak off to the cafeteria for at least an hour so that he could get a decent meal and he could just relax and not having to constantly be looking over his shoulder to check on a certain white-haired boy every three seconds. He almost couldn't' believe it when he found himself finishing his food and finding that maybe being occupied every minute of the day wasn't a bad thing; at least you were never bored. Which was exactly how Ichigo was feeling right now and he never thought he would ever think that he would be bothered with having free time, he had always treasured those small breaks few and far between his long shifts with his father; but now… it was just so…<p>

"Ichigo-sir!" A voice called as she burst into the cafeteria with a clear look of distress on her face.

Said strawberry almost laughed at the uncanny timing as he rose quickly from his seat and began walking towards the young lady whom he had recognized as the nurse that he had left in charge of watching Toshiro while he was on his 'break.'

"Hey, what are you-" he started to say when he was again interrupted in his thoughts by the nurse.

"I'm so sorry, but I'm not sure what to do…!" she exclaimed before quickly adding, "And I doubt that he would try and go anywhere in the state that he's in…"

"Just calm down, and tell me what's wrong." Ichigo assured the nurse before he took a mental double-take. "Wait… what do you mean by the state that he's in…?"

"The boy you wanted me to look after for you was sleeping, but he awoke abruptly while panting and just staring ahead at the space in front of him like a deer in the headlights…"

Ichigo let out a deep breath he didn't realize he had been holding and placed a comforting arm on the girl's shoulder in front of him. "It's okay, he's been doing that a few times while I've been with him… I think he's been having bad dreams or something is spooking him in his sleep, but he won't tell me what it is…"

"Well if that was all it was I would of have let him be, but it's not the way he woke up that alarmed me."

"Meaning…?" Ichigo replied hoping that she would get to the point soon if the matter was as urgent as she had first made it out to be.

"We really should be going… I'll tell you on the way so that way we don't waste anymore time."

With a sigh before picking up what was left of his meal and depositing it into the nearest trash can, Ichigo ran after the nurse that had just disappeared behind a corner and was able to catch up with her rather easily.

"So…?" Ichigo started again.

Noticing that the young doctor was indeed following her she continued, "He calmed down rather quickly, but then after a few moments I could tell he was in pain and at first he denied it, but I could tell by the look on his face he was lying. I asked once more, before he finally told me that he had a sharp pain in his stomach so I rushed out to the nurses' station to try and get him some painkillers and when I returned I noticed that he had thrown up on the floor and his fever has also spiked back up again… it's not as bad as when he first got here, but it's still very high…"

"Just when I thought we might finally get rid of him…" Ichigo said with a laugh as he started sprinting through the hallways in the direction of Toshiro's room while being careful to avoid the other people walking the hallway and inadvertently losing the nurse whom he had been following somewhere along the way.

After another couple of tense moments weaving in and out of people through the hallways, Ichigo found himself staring Toshiro's hospital room door. He wasn't sure what to expect when he opened the door, he had been surprised a lot lately while walking into this very room.

The strawberry walked in the room, not to find a dismissive and annoyed white-haired boy, but the nurse had been right when she said he was not in any state to try and run off. Actually, Ichigo would be surprised if the smaller male would even be able to get out of bed by himself.

Toshiro's face was flushed red and drenched in sweat and Ichigo noticed that the boy had at some point managed to kick off all the blankets on his bed except for the thinnest layer which still didn't go above his waist. His eyes were clenched together as he took shallow breaths and when he managed to inhale a particularly large of amount of air, it seemed to get caught in his throat and he went into a small coughing fit, which was just enough to jostle the part of his stomach where his stomach pains were originating trying in vain to suppress a small whimper that escaped his lips due to the movement.

Ichigo took this as his cue and rushed over the boy's bedside before he started trying to calm the boy's coughing fit by slowly and gently rubbing circles in Toshiro's back. After about a minute or so, Toshiro collapsed back on his pillow, breathing heavily as he finally made eye contact with the strawberry. He said nothing and even if he had wanted to, he wasn't sure that Ichigo would hear him.

"Can't leave you alone for more than two minutes, can I?" Ichigo chuckled lightly as he placed the back of his hand against Toshiro's damp forehead before pulling it back a few seconds later. "Wow, I didn't think your temperature would go up this much so suddenly."

Toshiro rolled his eyes, lacking the motive to speak or otherwise even glare at the strawberry right now. Said strawberry simply smiled as he got up and started walking towards the bathroom before disappearing and reappearing a few seconds later with a small bowl full of water in one hand and a small washcloth in the other.

"I'll get my dad to look at you once we manage to get you a little more comfortable." Sure, Toshiro could be a bit of a handful at times, but he was a patient after all and therefore it was Ichigo's job to put aside any personal feelings he may or may not have towards the boy to make sure that he got better. Ichigo continued to put the bowl he had brought down on the small table near the bedside before quickly submerging the washcloth and lightly ringing it out so he could use it to wipe away all the sweat currently decorating the sick boy's face.

Toshiro couldn't help but sigh in relief as the cool cloth made contact with his burning skin; the pain in his chest having dulled significantly by now as well. Toshiro's eyes widened slightly as Ichigo pulled down the thin sheet he had been hiding under and attempted to pull it back up before Ichigo tugged it further down so that he would not be able to reach it without having to sit up.

"Relax Toshiro, I'm just going to get your arms and chest, I remember the nurse who came to get me said that you were having stomach pains?"

The boy managed to nod slightly before Ichigo continued to speak as he dipped the cloth once more into the bowl before running it the length of Toshiro's thin arms.

"Normally, the best thing for stomach cramps is to put heat onto the affected area, but considering we are trying to bring down your temperature… well, this is going to have to do for now." Toshiro knew that the strawberry was attempting at making casual conversation so that things wouldn't be awkward, but he couldn't bring himself to care as he closed his eyes and enjoyed the cool sensation of the cloth running along his uncomfortably warm skin as he lingered closer and closer to falling asleep. Though the second Ichigo started to pull up Toshiro's gown, his eyes shot open and moaned quietly as he tried in vain to push Ichigo's steady hands away. "It's okay Toshiro, I'm just need to get to your chest; I promise you'll feel better after." Ichigo said calmly as he guided Toshiro's hands to his sides and again pulled up the boy's gown so that his torso was exposed, being mindful to keep the one sheet still on the bed covering everything below Toshiro's waist. When Ichigo finally finished he pulled the younger male's gown down again before once again returning the damp cloth to wiping any beads of sweat that may have accumulated on the boy's brow since a few minutes ago and Toshiro once again felt himself drifting off into a more comfortable sleep that he would have ever thought possible.

Ichigo continued to run the cloth over the boy's forehead and glowing red cheeks until he heard Toshiro's breathes start to even out and he could be absolutely sure that the petite boy had fallen asleep. Only when he had made extra sure Toshiro was sleeping and not just trying to fake him out, he exited the room silently in search of another doctor or nurse that could contact his father and tell him about their 'special patient's' most recent development.

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><p><strong>AN: Not sure when the next chapter will be up, but I'm pretty pumped for what's coming so I shouldn't take as long as I did this time.**

**Please Review? :D  
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